Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 1

A POEM. 65
feaU for strangers. From his waves the warrior
dt\scemled on thy woody isle : thou wert no cloud
Ik' fore him. Thy feast Avas spread with songs.
For tills my sword shall rise, arid thy foes perhaps
Sftity fail. Our friends are not forgot in their
^Kger, though distant is our land.
" Descendant of the daring Trenmor, thy
*' words are like the Yoicc of Cruth-loda, when
*•' he speaks from his parting cloud, strong dweller
*■• of the sky ! ]\Iany have rejoiced at my feast ;
*^' but they all have forgot Mal-orchol. I have
^' looked toward-s all the winds, but no white sails
*^ were seen : but steel * resounds in my hall, and
^ not the joyful shells. Come to my dwelling, race
^^ of heroes! dark-skirted night is near. Hear the
^ voice of songs from the maid of Fuarfed wild."
We went. On tlie harp arose the white hands
af Oiiia-morul. Sue vvaked her own sad tale
* There Is a severe satire couched in this expression
gainst the guests of Mai-orchol. Had his feast been still
spread, had joy continued in his hall, his former parasites
•vff/uld not have failed to resort to him ; but as the time of
lestivity wa? past, their attendimce aho ceased. The sen-
timeiit: of a certain old bard are agreeable to this observa-
tion. He poetically compare^; a great man to a lire kindled
ia a desert place. "Tbo e that pay court to him, says he,
•*■ arc rolling lai-ge around him, like the smoke about the
*^ iiic. This .moke gives the fire a great appeai-ance at a
^ di-t:i:ice,but it is but an empty vapour itself, and varying
*^ Its form at every breeze. When the trunk which fed the
** fire is consumed, the smoke departs on ali the wiivls ;
** so the flatterers forsake their clrief, when his power de-
•^ clhies." I have chosen to give a paraphrase, rather than
a transhtlun of this passage, us the original :s verbose and
liruhy, noiwithstanding the sentimental merit of the au-
thor. He was one of the less ancient bards, and their com-
pcsifioiis are noc nervous enough to bear a literal traua-
1 iLticin.